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Forcefully holding children for health procedures causes avoidable stress
Lucy Bray, Edge Hill University and Bernie Carter, Edge Hill University When children go to hospital they enter a strange place. It’s an unfamiliar building that sounds and smells unusual, full of strangers and intimidating equipment. This can be overwhelming and can make them feel small and anxious. Children cannot always find a way to…
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Sore throats and false nails – the ambulance call-outs that cost millions
Keegan Clay Shepard, Edge Hill University Ambulance call-outs are increasing, resulting in services operating under enormous, and probably unsustainable, pressure. While most calls do need an emergency response, far too many don’t. A study of 300 consecutive emergency ambulance arrivals to an accident and emergency (A&E) department in London, England, found that only 54% of…
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‘As a gay man, escaping the North was a matter of life and death’
By Billy Cowan, Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing. In April 1998 when Tony Blair and Bertie Ahern were signing the Good Friday agreement at Castle Buildings, I was just coming to the end of a degree in Creative Writing and Theatre Studies at Liverpool John Moore’s University. As a young, gay, Northern Irish man from a…
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Some Christian groups still promote ‘gay conversion therapy’ – but their influence is waning
Chris Greenough, Edge Hill University The idea that to be gay is to be sick and in need of a cure might seem archaic and bizarre by mainstream standards, but among a few fundamentalist Christian groups, it lives on today. Recently, one such group, the Core Issues Trust, booked a cinema in London’s West End…
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Banning piercings for under 18s may be medically a good idea, but it takes away choice and self-esteem
Michael Richards, Edge Hill University It is now an offence for under-18s in Wales to get any intimate piercings – meaning tongue, genitals and nipples. One of the main arguments for this ban is that young people under 18 are still physically developing and that these kinds of piercings can stifle that development and lead…
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Why we still need to teach young people about the Holocaust
Michael Richards, Edge Hill University; Dr. Anna Bussu, Edge Hill University, and Dr Peter Leadbetter, Edge Hill University It has been more than 70 years since the Nazi-occupied Auschwitz concentration camp was liberated. Auschwitz was the most notorious of all the concentration camps – where it is believed that more than a million people were…
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Young gang members also at risk of developing post-traumatic stress disorder
Grace Robinson, Edge Hill University Until recently, researchers have associated post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) with being a victim of trauma. Now, new findings from the US suggest that the act of killing or perpetrating violence could be even more traumatic than being a victim. A condition often experienced by war veterans, PTSD can cause nightmares,…
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Online abuse on Facebook and Twitter can’t be solved by regulation alone
Laura Bliss, Edge Hill University The severity of abuse conducted online during 2017’s general election has brought the issue into sharp focus for politicians, some of whom have urged the prime minister to legislate against Facebook, Twitter and Google to make them liable for content posted on their sites. Complaints about online harassment in the…
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Constructive approaches – putting children first in the Youth Justice System
Beyond Youth Custody’s (BYC) framework for the effective resettlement of young people leaving custody promotes children’s active involvement in the decision-making process and details why practitioners must recognise and praise children’s positive attitudes and behaviours. The report advocates constructive approaches that are future orientated and strengths-based. In this blog, we promote meaningful participation, alongside critically…
